Morning Beauty!

Just wanted to share my early morning view with the moon still up there.

Earth Hour - March 29, 8 to 9pm

I did my share. Did you do your? At precisely 8pm last night, I didn't only dim the lights, I shut off all the breakers! I continued doing work on the computer, but battery-powered and enjoyed the candlelit atmosphere. I didn't even turn the TV on after 9pm.

Did I make a difference? Sure! In my small world. But maybe not in the bigger scheme of things. It was not just about dimming the lights but rather to be more conscious of our wasteful ways. I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Happy Easter!

I Feel Lucky!

Today, I’ve been dumped by my Irish beau, ended up being nothing more than the flavor of the month. That sucks. It’s not the lucky part but can’t dwell too much on the sucky parts of life. On my way from work, I saw a Roadtrek 190 on a used car lot! That’s the small RV I’ve talked about before ~ just what I need to hit the road! This must be a sign of better things to come, so I bought a lottery ticket for tonight’s draw! You never know!

Denver, CO

Wow! Today must be a lucky day for me! First I got an exit aisle seat on the flight from Sacramento to Denver without asking. So much leg room! AND I got a US Air Force pilot beside me! Easy on the eyes to boot! Could not have asked for better!!! We chatted all the way about California, Illinois (his home base), Canada and motorcycles! He showed me videos taken with a lipstick camera mounted on his bike. Fascinating! He showed me how to do sudoku games; is that the right name? I've never done that before so I learned something today! And he was curious about all the items I dog eared the pages in the Sky Mall catalogue. Got to go, we're boarding now! Denver airport is great: again free Wifi access!!!

Sacramento, Sunny California!

I'm in Sacramento right now with 2 hours to kill at the airport before my flight to Denver, then on to Toronto. There was no traffic this morning so I got here earlier than expected. It's a very small airport (and Sacramento is the state capitol?!!), very 60's looking, BUT there is free public WiFi access!!! At every other airports I've been too, you always have to buy a time package. So this is really impressive!

Magnificent Mango Salad!

I got this recipe from the Chatelaine magazine a few years ago, but couldn’t find it again on their web site to share with you. I used the same dressing, fish sauce/lime juice/sugar/chili pepper flakes but I’ll have to find a new kind of fish sauce; the one I have in the fridge has 52% of your daily sodium requirement in 1 tablespoon!!!! Much too much!!!
Anyway, the end result was delicious: a huge mix of mangoes, shrimps, sweet onions, bean sprout on a bed of arugula greens, sprinkled with chopped cilantro and crushed still-warm roasted cashews. I often change the recipe, depending on what I have in the fridge! Avocado is also very good in that mix, so is fresh grapefruit chunks. I still have a mango left so I’ll do a repeat this week with chicken. So good, I wish I could share with you virtually! !

1st Victory!

A visit to my doctor yesterday confirmed a 5 lbs loss for the pass 5 weeks! I’m very happy! But the challenge continues ~ I still have a lot of weight to lose and the goal for the next 8 weeks is to lower my blood pressure through better diet and exercise. I guess I will dust off the stationary bicycle tomorrow. And maybe I should start watching all the Richard Simmons VHS tapes I've collected years ago!!

On Target!

To Keep or Not to Keep?

I have so many CD’s and so little room. When I moved here 3 years ago, I had cd’s in 3 Banker’s boxes; I bought 7 portable binders and got rid of hundreds of plastic cases. And the rest, along with the binders, went back in storage in the garage… I’ve now decided to get rid of the ones that didn’t fit in the binders, after ripping then to my computer. Is it ok now to get rid of the original CD’s? What do you normally do with a CD collection that has gone out of hand?

Landscape Ever Changing!

One day, it snows, one day it’s raining, now it’s more windy than in Chicago! The lake went from calm, quiet and flat, to frozen overnight yesterday and now the waves are ferociously crashing on the icebergs near the shore. Amazing show!

Vacation Planning!

It looks like I HAVE to go to Cuba…again!!! My mom invited me to join her after my Dad divulged he would prefer to spend a week vacationing at my place and be our pets’ sitter while we’re away! Vacation time for everyone!! I really have it tough: accompany my Mom to a sun-soaked 5-star resort where there is nothing to do but be pampered at the spa, eat like kings and catch up on my reading in between swims in the turquoise blue ocean! Too bad we can’t get away right now, when we’re expecting another dumping of snow with frigid temperatures. Unfortunately, I have a few business trips planned but we’ll get away in early spring. Looking forward!

Merci Papa!

Last week I had dinner at friends and their kitchen reno was almost finished, done by pros. New cupboards, trims, counter and sink: nothing extravagant, just nicer and new. A closet in the hallway was removed to increase the kitchen footprint and a breakfast counter with top cupboard was removed. When I heard the price tag was close to $10,000.00, not only was I flabbergasted but it made me reflect on my own renovations, specially my kitchen, now on the 8th year. I had a full wall removed, new window, new larger exterior door, new cupboard units, new counter, new breakfast counter and all done to my precise wishes. Best of all, all done by love, with passion & talent by my Dad. I’ve only had to call pros twice: an electrician to hook up the 220V washer/dryer and a plumber to look at a pump problem. I could not have done a tenth of what he’s done if I had to have everything done by pros, and it would not have been made with the same care and quality. I’m very luck. As a small tribute to my Dad’s amazing work, I share with you a few Before and After photos.

Small Victory!

This morning, I was able to tighten my belt to the second hole without any effort! So 2 weeks of juicing & salad eating is showing up. And I keep going! Just back from the grocery store with more veggies; this week-end I will experiment with dry beans. I need to get away from the canned one because of the high sodium content so I will try a couple recipes with dry white navy and red beans. On the menu tonight is a beef stew: I will use the pressure cooker to tenderize the meat and reduce the bean cooking time and I will add tomatoes (I found a canned version with no sodium), cabbage, carrots, garlic and I will spice things up with a couple chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Yummy! Already looking forward!

I Broke Down!

And had a mac & chesse Kraft Dinner tonight….but for the first time, I followed the recipe and did not add extra butter! Butter is my problem and that’s what I miss the most. I also ate only half the package instead of my regular three-quarter. So just small improvement from the past. The most difficult time is definitely the dinner time; breakfasts are easier than I thought and I look forward to my salad and or soup lunches. But to prepare a healthy dinner is a chore. I need to get that more organized. I’m feed up with doing dishes every night. Not so long ago, I could go from Monday to Friday without having to clean dishes, pots and pans. As Jamie made me realize, in terms of food preparation, my life has been all about convenience: I would do the easy stuff, one-pot quick dish. So one of my goals is to get to a comfortable middle: where I can prepare a healthy dinner with minimal efforts.